BFAMFAPHD.com is an interactive website, an installation, and a community of thinkers that wonder: How might we mobilize artists in the United States? According to the census, there are more artists than police officers, lawyers, or doctors in the United States. Reporting on the census in 2008, The New York Times noticed that “if all artists in America’s workforce banded together, their ranks would be double the size of the United States Army.” How many of us are there, and what might we do together? BFAMFAPHD.com visualizes the number of students graduating with creative degrees, generates dialog about our collective power, and elicits proposals for organizing efforts.
For example, if just ten prospective MFA students could agree to pool $200-2000 a month for four years, they could generate between $100,000 and $1,000,000. Rather than going into debt to belong to a 2 year community in a traditional school, this group could use this money to buy a building, create a community land trust, and secure space for place-based art, community organizing, internet activism, and community resilience, in perpetuity.
Join us for a series of conversations about this project with invited guests in the studio of Caroline Woolard, a participant in the Queens Museum Studio Program.
SCHEDULE OF CONVERSATIONS
February 2 from 3-5pm: Open House
Join Annelie Berner, Luis Daniel, Michele Graffieti, Ann Chen, Brian House, Lika Volkova, Ben Lerchin, Alex Mallis, Vicky Virgin, Jeff Warren, Mira Rojanasakul, Agnes Szanyi, Jason Arias, and Caroline Woolard in conversation about recent data visualizations for BFAMFAPHD.com and the formation of working groups for BFAMFAPHD.com.
March 15 from 6-8pm: Mark McGurl and Leigh Claire La Berge
Mark McGurl, author of The Program Era: Postwar Fiction and the Rise of Creative Writing, and Leigh Claire La Berge, author of the forthcoming Scandals and Abstraction: Financial Fictions of the Long 1980s, will join BFAMFAPHD.com for a dialogue about how the nexus between the university and the market has transformed American fiction, given rise to forms of institutional creativity, and produced new sites for creative collectivities.
April 13 from 3-5pm: James Elkins
James Elkins, author of Artists with PhDs, will join BFAMFAPHD.com in dialog about or a conversation about his work and our collective power.
May 17 from 3-5pm: Howard Singerman
Howard Singerman, author of Art Subjects, will join BFAMFAPHD.com in dialog about or a conversation about his work and our collective power.
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This series part of the Open A.I.R Artist Services Program of professional development features and a networking Lecture Series that draws on human resources at the Queens Museum. Open A.I.R. programs will offer professional development topics targeted specifically to all interested emerging artists.
Open A.I.R. is made possible by a generous grant from The Scherman Foundation’s Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund. Additional support provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
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